name that 'toon

For cosplayers, anime is all about dressing the part

It's a typical scene on most college campuses: A student group is gathered in a dining area, talking about upcoming meetings, rules and regulations, who has a TV they can borrow for the next party.

And yet the group gathered at the food court inside the College of DuPage's student resource center in Glen Ellyn draws stares from passing students.

Why so much attention? It could be that the woman speaking, Courtney Borowiec, wears a purple, stylized gi (robe), carries a 3-foot Akomeogi (folding fan) and looks like a cartoon character.

"There are some people who are real accepting," says Borowiec, 20, of Naperville. "And then there are some who are like, 'It's not Halloween. Get your costume off.'"

Such is the life of a cosplayer in the U.S. A popular subculture in Japan since the 1980s, cosplay literally and figuratively blends a love of dressing up in costume with role-playing (cos = costume, play = role-play). For most cosplayers, that means dressing up as a character from anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) or video games.

Usually, the costumes come out for special events like conventions or meet-ups with other groups. But some cosplayers will find the flimsiest excuse to dress up. A couple of cosplayers from the College of DuPage club are planning a Halloween party. The plan so far: hanging out in costume and watching anime.

"We just like to have fun and express ourselves," says Kathryn Powers, a 20-year-old club member from Elmhurst.

Cosplay clearly isn't limited to Japanese pop culture, says Patrick Drazen, author of "Anime Explosion! The What, Why & How of Japanese Animation." Cosplay can include knights at a Renaissance fair or "Star Wars" stormtroopers at a sci-fi convention. What matters, he says, is the costume.

"The impulse to put on a costume is almost as old as humanity itself," says Drazen, who lives in Hyde Park. "We call it Mardi Gras or Carnival. Putting on a mask has long been with us. This is just another manifestation."

In the last decade, the Japanese form has grown in the United States, Drazen says, thanks to anime's increasing popularity. Before, anime in America meant giant-robot shoot-'em-ups like "Voltron" or "Robotech." That changed when the cartoon show "Sailor Moon" arrived in 1995.

With "Sailor Moon," fans found a new kind of hero in the title character (a.k.a. Usagi Tsukino, or Serena in the English-dubbed version), a high school student who, on top of struggling with homework and boys, has to use her newfound superpowers to save Earth.

"It totally changed the demographic," Drazen says. "People were surprised with how caught up they got in the story. It was more in touch with life as you knew it."

Soon, "Pokemon" joined the ranks of anime in mainstream culture and the boom was in full swing. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won the best animated feature Oscar for "Spirited Away." Actors like Christian Bale and Billy Crystal were lending their voices to English-dubbed anime. And U.S. audiences were discovering a diverse genre ranging from cuddly talking cats to apocalyptic demons.

"American cartoons are so restrictive," says Danielle Roelandt, 20, who formed the College of DuPage cosplay club with Borowiec this past spring. "It's 'We have to have a learning experience,' or they're just plain dumb. But anime is meant for older kids, the 8-, the 12-year-olds, the teenagers and the young adults. It has issues that deal with all of that."

Roelandt grew up a "closet Moonie" in Naperville, unable to express her love for Sailor Moon until she joined an anime club in high school. There, she heard about Anime Central, an annual convention for fans held in Rosemont. She convinced her mom to make her a costume and went as Sailor Moon.

What she saw next shocked her. A convention center filled with people in costumes. Bright colors. Lots of props. She recognized some of the characters; others were a total mystery. And the detail!

"I remember standing in line going, 'Oh my God. Look at that costume! It's so amazing. How much time did they put into that?'" she recalls.

Roelandt, who still dresses up as Sailor Moon, learned the first rule of cosplay: The costume is everything. Cosplayers judge each other on their costumes, down to the smallest detail.

Depending on the character, making a costume can range from sewing pieces of fabrics together to spot-welding and molding accents out of foam rubber. Human characters are easy, cosplayers say. Demons and robots require a little more work.

Costs also vary depending on the character and personal finances. But it's better than buying your costume, many say.

"People spend up to thousands of dollars on a costume and they take pride in it," Borowiec says. "I just like making something and seeing my own abilities. If you can't make it, then buy."

Roelandt, who wants to design costumes after college, normally buys about $100 in fabric at a time. From that fabric she can usually create at least two costumes.